Kai Mainzer

Dr. Kai Mainzer

  • Head of research group
  • group: Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

Areas of activity

Research topics

  • Development of the RE³ASON model (Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency Analysis and System OptimizatioN) for the analysis and optimization of urban energy systems (Poster, Video)
  • Automated determination of costs and potentials for renewable energies and energy efficiency
  • Automated analyses of urban energy systems, e.g. building stock, electricity and heat demand
  • Dispatch and investment decisions for supply-side and demand-side decentralised technologies
  • Determination of energy concepts for cities and municipalities for the implementation of sustainability goals

Methods

  • Mixed integer linear programming
  • Geographical Information Systems / Geoinformatics
  • Artificial neural networks

Projects

  • Accompanying research for the competition "Energy-efficient city", in particular analysis of existing model approaches, assessment of transferability and further development of models
  • Determination of potentials for renewable energies and energy efficiency in Germany and France in the Plan-EE project
  • Determination of energy concepts for the Oststadt in Karlsruhe in the project Reallabor 131
  • Helmholtz portfolio topic "Security Research"
  • Parameterization of the azimuth and inclination angles of PV systems in cooperation with Fraunhofer ISE and the transmission grid operator TenneT TSO

Teaching

Veröffentlichungen


Book Chapters
Charakterisierung der verwendeten Modellansätze im Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt
Mainzer, K.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2016. Wettbewerb "Energieeffiziente Stadt", Wagner & von Both (Hrsg.), 149–160, LIT
Modelle und Methoden zur Entscheidungsunterstützung bei der Planung urbaner Energiesysteme
Mainzer, K.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2014. Wettbewerb "Energieeffiziente Stadt", Bd. 3: Methoden und Modelle. Hrsg.: M. Koch, 11–20, LIT
Ermittlung technischer Potenziale für die Photovoltaik-Nutzung auf Dachflächen von deutschen Wohngebäuden
Mainzer, K.; Fath, K.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2012. Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt - Energieversorgung, Energiebilanzierung und Monitoring. Hrsg.: H.-J. Wagner, 125–134, LIT-Verl
Journal Articles
Corrigendum to “Assessing the contribution of simultaneous heat and power generation from geothermal plants in off-grid municipalities” [Appl. Energy 255 (2019) 113824]
Weinand, J. M.; McKenna, R.; Kleinebrahm, M.; Mainzer, K.
2022. Applied Energy, 307, Art.-Nr.: 118202. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118202
The Implications of Landscape Visual Impact on Future Highly Renewable Power Systems: A Case Study for Great Britain
Price, J.; Mainzer, K.; Petrovic, S.; Zeyringer, M.; McKenna, R.
2022. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 37 (4), 3311–3320. doi:10.1109/TPWRS.2020.2992061
Exploring trade-offs between landscape impact, land use and resource quality for onshore variable renewable energy: an application to Great Britain
McKenna, R.; Mulalic, I.; Soutar, I.; Weinand, J. M.; Price, J.; Petrović, S.; Mainzer, K.
2022. Energy, 250, Art.-Nr.: 123754. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2022.123754
Scenicness assessment of onshore wind sites with geotagged photographs and impacts on approval and cost-efficiency
McKenna, R.; Weinand, J. M.; Mulalic, I.; Petrović, S.; Mainzer, K.; Preis, T.; Moat, H. S.
2021. Nature energy, 6 (6), 663–672. doi:10.1038/s41560-021-00842-5
Spatial high-resolution socio-energetic data for municipal energy system analyses
Weinand, J. M.; McKenna, R.; Mainzer, K.
2019. Scientific data, 6 (1), Article: 243. doi:10.1038/s41597-019-0233-0
Assessing the contribution of simultaneous heat and power generation from geothermal plants in off-grid municipalities
Weinand, J. M.; McKenna, R.; Kleinebrahm, M.; Mainzer, K.
2019. Applied energy, 255, 113824. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113824
Developing a combinatorial optimisation approach to design district heating networks based on deep geothermal energy
Weinand, J. M.; Kleinebrahm, M.; McKenna, R.; Mainzer, K.; Fichtner, W.
2019. Applied energy, 251, 113367. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113367
Combining local preferences with multi-criteria decision analysis and linear optimization to develop feasible energy concepts in small communities
McKenna, R.; Bertsch, V.; Mainzer, K.; Fichtner, W.
2018. European journal of operational research, 268 (3), 1092–1110. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2018.01.036
Die energiewende am oberrhein
McKenna, R.; Jehling, M.; Mainzer, K.; Jergentz, S.; Christen, G.; Soylu, T.
2014. BWK, 66 (9), 61–66
Model-based analysis of urban Energy Systems (on the basis of a city’s energy Master Plan)
Oldenburg, O.; Murshed, S. M.; Kremers, E.; Mainzer, K.; Koch, A.
2015. Emergence: Complexity and Organization, 17 (2). doi:10.17357/03a4747a4b28258c105148d3775522a1
Assessment of rooftop photovoltaic potentials at the urban level using publicly available geodata and image recognition techniques
Mainzer, K.; Killinger, S.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2017. Solar energy, 155, 561–573. doi:10.1016/j.solener.2017.06.065
A regional optimisation of renewable energy supply from wind and photovoltaics with respect to three key energy-political objectives
Killinger, S.; Mainzer, K.; McKenna, R.; Kreifels, N.; Fichtner, W.
2015. Energy, 84, 563–574. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2015.03.050
Der interdisziplinäre und systemanalytische Ansatz des Interreg-Projektes Plan-EE: Die Energiewende am Oberrhein
McKenna, R.; Jehling, M.; Mainzer, K.; Jergentz, S.; Christen, G.; Soylu, T.
2014. BWK, 66 (9), 61–66
A high-resolution determination of the technical potential for residential-roof-mounted photovoltaic systems in Germany
Mainzer, K.; Fath, K.; McKenna, R.; Stengel, J.; Fichtner, W.; Schultmann, F.
2014. Solar Energy, 105, 715–731. doi:10.1016/j.solener.2014.04.015
Conference Papers
Improving the performance of solving large scale mixed-integer energy system models by applying the fix-and-relax method
Yilmaz, H. U.; Mainzer, K.; Keles, D.
2020. 17th International Conference on the European Energy Market, EEM 2020, Stockholm, Sweden, 16 - 18 September 2020, 9221934. doi:10.1109/EEM49802.2020.9221934
Übertragbare Methoden zur Bestimmung und räumlichen Verortung des Wärmebedarfs von Wohngebäuden in Städten
Mainzer, K.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2018. BauSIM2018 - 7. Deutsch-Österreichische IBPSA-Konferenz : Tagungsband. Hrsg.: P. von Both, 471–477, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Rooftop PV Potential Estimations: Automated Orthographic Satellite Image Recognition Based on Publicly Available Data
Mainzer, K.; Schlund, D.; Killinger, S.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2016. 32nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC), München, June 20-24, 2016. Proceedings on DVD, 2930–2933. doi:10.4229/EUPVSEC20162016-7EO.2.3
Rolling Horizon Plannung Methods in Long-Term Energy System Analysis MILP Models
Mainzer, K.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2015. CORS/INFORMS International Meeting, Montreal, Canada, 14 - 17 June 2015
Integrating residential energy efficiency measures into optimizing urban energy system models
Mainzer, K.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2015. ECEEE 2015 Summer Study Proceedings "First Fuel Now", Toulon/Hyères, France, 1 - 6 June 2015, 3–427, ECEEE
Reports/Preprints
Exploring trade-offs between landscape impact, land use and resource quality for onshore variable renewable energy: an application to Great Britain
McKenna, R.; Mulalic, I.; Soutar, I.; Weinand, J. M.; Price, J.; Petrović, S.; Mainzer, K.
2022. doi:10.48550/arXiv.2105.09736
Quantifying the trade-off between cost-efficiency and public acceptance for onshore wind
McKenna, R.; Weinand, J. M.; Mulalic, I.; Petrovic, S.; Mainzer, K.; Preis, T.; Moat, H. S.
2020. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). doi:10.5445/IR/1000118671/v2
Developing a three-stage heuristic to design geothermal-based district heating systems
Weinand, J.; Kleinebrahm, M.; McKenna, R.; Mainzer, K.; Fichtner, W.
2019. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). doi:10.5445/IR/1000090290
Combining local preferences with multi-criteria decision analysis and linear optimisation to develop feasible energy concepts in small communities
McKenna, R.; Bertsch, V.; Mainzer, K.; Fichtner, W.
2016. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). doi:10.5445/IR/1000071549
Charakterisierung der verwendeten Modellansätze im Wettbewerb Energieeffiziente Stadt
Mainzer, K.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2015. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). doi:10.5445/IR/1000049861
A regional simulation and optimisation of renewable energy supply from wind and photovoltaics with respect to three key energy-political objectives
Killinger, S.; Mainzer, K.; McKenna, R.; Kreifels, N.; Fichtner, W.
2014. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). doi:10.5445/IR/1000041755
Presentations
Developing a combinatorial optimisation approach to design geothermal-based district heating systems
Weinand, J. M.; Kleinebrahm, M.; McKenna, R.; Mainzer, K.; Fichtner, W.
2019, June 26. 30th European Conference on Operational Research (EURO 2019), Dublin, Ireland, June 23–26, 2019
Investigating the Energy Performance of Buildings with a 3D City Model and Thermal Simulation: Results from the Urban Transition Lab
Murshed, S. M.; Abdul-Zahra, A.; Koch, A.; Mainzer, K.; Sliz-Szkliniarz, B.; Wendel, J.
2017. The European Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment 2017 Official Conference Proceedings (ECSEE2017), Brighton, United Kingdom, July 7th - 9th, 2017
A model for the identification and optimal planning of emission reduction measures in urban energy systems
Mainzer, K.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2016. Urban Transitions Global Summit, Shanghai, China, September 5-9, 2016
Posters
A model for the identification and optimal planning of emission reduction measures in urban energy systems
Mainzer, K.; McKenna, R.; Fichtner, W.
2016. Urban Transitions Global Summit, Shanghai, China, September 5-9, 2016